The expression ‘ gives me the ick ‘

[ConstantlyFuriosa]

Gives me the ick. Yuck.

I think it’s a really useful way of describing a feeling. Probably over-used though!

I agree it's pretty efficient, don't love it but can't think of a good alternative.

Me too. I hate it and instantly judge people who use it!

No I agree with pp - it perfectly sums up something that only you would find off putting rather than I felt there was something off about him ,which is wholey subjective.
A man walking around wearing nothing but socks isn't illegal, but it should be.

I hate it. It is so emotionally immature.

I think it is unhelpful inasmuch as it sort of says: "...and that's that, the 'ick' is the 'ick' after all and I'm justified in not engaging further."

Sure, some things really are repulsive, but the things which people profess to 'get the ick' about can be so weird and seemingly insignificant. I've also noticed it among a small group of people at work who will sit in the staffroom and sort of trump each other's 'icks':
"...and then she put the glass straight under the tap and filled it without running it. I'm sorry, I mean ‐I j u s t could not... the ick!!"
"Ew. I got it so bad yesterday when Gary got the cutlery out of the dishwasher and put it on the counter just after Ann had made her toast... I know, right."
Like some kind of odd way of signalling they have 'standards', however arbitrary, and one never quite knows when one might fall foul.

Agreed, OP.
But ‘boils my piss’ is the one I really hate.

Agree, OP. It always comes across as a bit silly.

I think I’m guilty of this one on occasion. It’s not a very nice expression, though.

Also really hate ‘ew’. I think this and ‘ick’ just sound a bit infantile.

I think that it is a simple way of putting the feeling. I can't stand 'vile'. It could be funnily used face-to-face in the 90's, but not written down.

I hate this too! Also putting -y on the end of words.

Ye I don’t like it either and I very rarely use it unless maybe on a thread on here specifically using it as the theme of the thread.

I haven’t really found an easy alternative though that has the same all encompassing meaning though. I find it kind of covers an emotional response even if you can’t describe what particular emotion you mean.

but no I don’t like it.

Yes!

Yeah - it's a thought-terminating cliché.

Just very childish…and what does it actually mean?

I like it, because it captures a feeling really well.
I've only ever used it when dating, about the opposite sex.

I like it too @JMSA. What one person might find cool or sweet could give me the ick. I think most people know that feeling so even if they don't understand the reason why, they get it.

Agreed. Sounds like something a 12 year old would say.

When I first saw "the ick" it was used to capture a really specific and subtle feeling - the moment when, seemingly out of nowhere, something innocuous about a person's behaviour was suddenly and inexplicably off-putting to you. You knew the feeling was irrational and the behaviour innocuous so it wasn't a judgment, but it struck a chord because it was so often a signal that something deeper in the relationship wasn't right.

It's now been overused and misused to the point where I want to scratch my own eyes out whenever I see it. Most of the time when I see it now, people are just using it as a vehicle for their own unexamined and deeply stupid prejudices and hang-ups (often class-based, often about traditional gender signifiers), but because it's "the ick" they can never be challenged or have to reflect on why they find a man in a cheap shirt or a man with long hair so viscerally repellent. And it's done with all the subtlety of a 9-year-old bully in the playground sneering "you smell!"